Cheesy Taco Bake Recipe

I had a craving for something Mexican inspired, so I whipped up this little recipe on the fly.  Let me know what you think!

Cheesy Taco Bake Recipe:

1 LB Ground Beef
1 Packet McCormick Taco Seasoning
1 Can Black Beans
1 Box Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese
1 Bunch Green Onions (Finely Chopped)
1 Can Diced Tomatoes (Drained)
1 Can Rotel's Tomatoes & Chilis (Drained)
1 Can Sliced Black Olives (Drained)
1 Can Chopped Black Olives (Drained)
1 Bag Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

• Brown ground beef in a large skillet.  Drain grease.  Add taco seasoning, 1/2 cup water and black beans.  Stir and simmer on low heat.
• In a separate, large pot, boil the Kraft macaroni noodles for 8 - 10 minutes as directed.  Drain. 
• Return noodles to large pot.
• Pre-heat Oven to 350 degrees
• Combine taco meat mixture with noodles in the large noodle pot.  Add onions, tomatoes, Rotel's
• and black olives.  Add Kraft cheese sauce and stir everything together in the large pot until well mixed.
• Spread mixture evenly into large glass baking dish.  Top mixture with shredded cheese.
• Cover dish with tinfoil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes until cheese is melted.
• Serve with Tostitos or Fritos "Scoops" chips and enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Recipe

If one positive thing came from being unemployed for a year, it was that it gave me time to teach myself how to cook. I've come up with a number of recipes over the past year, including my famous Tex Mex Casserole Bake. That was a big hit! Hopefully this will be, too...


Kenn's Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Baked Chicken, Shredded

1 26 Oz. Can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 7 Oz. Can Mushrooms Pieces & Stems (Drained)

1 12 Oz. Bag Broccoli, Frozen, Chopped

1 14.5 Oz. Box of Farfale Pasta (Or Rotini or Penne)

1 8 Oz. Bag Shredded Cheese (Cheddar or Colby Jack)

1 2.75 Oz. Packet Pioneer Brand Peppered Gravy Mix

DIRECTIONS:

• Remove the baked chicken from the bones, shred, put in a bowl and set aside.

• In a large pot, start the water boiling for the pasta.

• In a separate medium sized pot, make the Pepper Gravy as directed with two cups of hot water. Add in the shredded chicken, cream of mushroom soup and the drained mushrooms and cook over medium heat.

• Start cooking the pasta noodles in the boiling water (takes about ten minutes).

• While the pasta is cooking, put the frozen broccoli in a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water in the sink for a few minutes to defrost, then drain.

• Add the broccoli to the gravy/soup/chicken/mushroom mixture and stir in over medium heat.

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Drain the pasta noodles and return them to the large pot. Add the contents of the medium pot to the noodles in the large pot and mix together thoroughly.

• Spread the combined gravy and noodle mixture evenly in a large, glass baking dish. Top evenly with shredded cheese.

• Cover baking dish with tinfoil and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese.

• Serve hot with Pillsbury biscuits (Optional) and enjoy!

Let me know how you like it!

Kenn's Tex Mex Casserole Bake Recipe

Check out my latest culinary creation! I was hungry for Mexican food and wanted to try to make something new, so I killed two birds with one (very tasty) stone. I've really been enjoying learning how to cook. I'm certainly no "Master Chef," but it's still been a lot of fun experimenting with new and exciting foodstuffs. It's like art...with food!

So, without further ado...

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Kenn's Tasty Tex Mex Casserole Bake

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1 Lb. Ground Beef

1/3 Yellow Onion (Diced)

1 Packet McCormick Enchilada Sauce Mix

2 Cups Salsa

1 Can Black Beans (Drained)

1 Can Rotel's Tomatoes and Green Chilis

1 8 oz. Can of Tomato Sauce

1 Box Rice A Roni Spanish Rice

1 Can Diced Tomatoes

2 Tbsp. Butter or Margerine

1 Can Sliced Black Olives

1 Bunch Green Onions (Diced)

1 Medium Sized Bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos (crushed)

1 10 oz. Bag of Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef with 1/3 of a diced yellow onion. Drain and return to skillet. Add McCormick Enchilada Sauce Mix, Salsa, can of Rotel's, tomato sauce and can of black beans. Heat through, stirring occasionally, and set aside to simmer.

While first mixture is heating through and simmering, in separate pan, make Rice A Roni mix as directed (requires the butter and the can of diced tomatoes). When finished, add the diced green onions and the sliced black olives to the Rice A Roni mix.

Pre-Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Cover the bottom of a large glass baking dish with a thin layer of crushed Doritos. Pour in and spread the enchilada/beef/bean/salsa mixture over the crushed Doritos evenly. Add a thin layer of shredded cheese on top.

Pour in and spread the Rice A Roni mixture evenly over the cheese layer. Top Rice A Roni layer with the remaining shredded cheese.

Cover with tinfoil and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is heated through.

Serves 6 hungry souls (My wife and I got 3 meals for two out of it)!

NOTES: You can adjust the spiciness by using Hot, Medium or Mild salsa and Hot, Medium or Mild Rotel's. This first attempt wasn't as spicy as I'd like, so next time I'm going to go with "Hot" everything and maybe add some hot sauce to it as well. I may also add steamed southwest fiesta corn next time as well.

My Contribution To "A Man, A Can And A Plan!"

I made this delicious casserole dish up one day when I was feeling inspired and I think it turned out pretty well. I was inspired to experiment by a cook book I own called "A Man, A Can And A Plan."

I refined the recipe after my first attempt to make it and cooked it up again last night with even better results. It was great! And so easy, even a kitchen-phobic man can do it!

Men, if you want to impress your lady friend (or even your imaginary friend) with your mad skills in the kitchen, give this simple recipe a try!

Kenn Hoekstra's Zesty, Cheesy, Chicken Pasta Casserole Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 16 oz. Box of Rotini (or Penne or Macaroni) Pasta Noodles
1 26 oz. Can Cream of Mushroom Soup (The big boy!)
2 10 oz. Cans Rotel's Original Tomatoes & Green Chilis (Not Drained)
2 5 oz. Cans Premium Chicken in Water (Drained)
1 Small Can Mushrooms Pieces & Stems (Drained)
1 8 oz. Bag Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

SPICES (To Taste):

Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Kickin' Chicken Spice (Optional, but this stuff is RAD!)

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Pre-Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Boil a large pot of water and cook the pasta as directed.

In a separate medium sized pot, mix together Cream of Mushroom Soup, 2 cans Rotel's, 2 cans of chicken (drained), 1 small can of mushrooms (drained), 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce and spices (to taste). Mix together and stir under medium heat until warmed through.

Drain cooked pasta noodles and return to large pot. Mix in contents of medium pot with the noodles in the large pot and stir until well mixed.

Pour combined mixture into large casserole dish and spread evenly. Top with shredded cheese until covered (I used about half of an 8 oz. bag) and cover the casserole dish with tin foil.

Place covered casserole dish in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 300 degrees to heat through and melt cheese.

Serve hot and enjoy! Feeds a small army!

OPTIONAL:

- If you don't like the spicy kick to your dish, you can substitute diced tomatoes for the Rotel's. If you're hardcore and you want it extra spicy, use Rotel's HOT tomatoes and chilis!

- Substitute drained chunk tuna for chicken if you prefer a tuna based casserole. Both are great!

- Use real chicken pulled off the bones instead of canned!

That's it! Easy peasy!

If you try this recipe and you like it, shoot me an e-mail or post a comment and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Guinness and Beef Stew (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Guinness and Beef Stew By: Michael Raymond-Judy

Difficulty: Easy
Yield: 6 servings

2 to 2½ pounds stewing beef
2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp cayenne
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
2 cups thickly diced carrots
3 medium to large potatoes, cut into 1” chunks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water
2 12oz. bottles of Guinness
Olive oil
Sprig of fresh thyme or basil
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley (for garnish)

Prepare carrots, onion, garlic before beginning. Do not prepare potatoes until ready to add them.

Trim the meat of any fat or gristle, and cut into 2-inch cubes.

In a small bowl, season the flour with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Toss beef with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Toss meat with seasoned flour.

Heat 2 to 4 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat (thinly coat bottom of skillet).

Brown the meat on all sides. If meat begins to stick to bottom of skillet, drizzle in small amount of olive oil or water until it no longer sticks.

Reduce the heat; add the onions, crushed garlic and tomato puree to the skillet. Cover, and cook gently for 5-8 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the skillet to a casserole (or a large pan with tightly-sealed lid).

Pour a third to a half bottle of Guinness into the skillet.

Bring the Guinness to a boil and stir to dissolve the caramelized meat juices on the pan.

Pour over the meat, along with the other full bottle of Guinness (save the half bottle for later!).

Add the carrots, bay leaf and thyme. Stir and adjust seasonings.

Cover the casserole/pan and simmer over low heat, or in a 300° F oven until the meat is tender, (2 to 3 hours).

Adjust seasoning as needed (salt, pepper and garlic are the likely needed additions).

If needed, let stew rest until about an hour before serving, allowing for bringing temperature back to cooking level.

About 45 minutes before serving:
Prepare the potatoes (leave skin on or not to preference)
Add potatoes and remaining half bottle of Guinness (you didn’t drink it did you?)
Simmer until potatoes are fork tender.

Season to taste.

Garnish with parsley, serve and enjoy!